Get Real War on White Folks WTF

I have tried to take a high road and not speak on some of the true ignorance dripping from the mouths of those elected to high office. In truth, I have been absent lately for the simple reason the world has cracked my heart, I haven’t known whether I was broken hearted or simply damned angry. I am both; truthfully, I am both. It is difficult to sit in my safe enclave and watch from afar the horrifying and tragic events unfolding in this nation without being both. Anyone with a drabble of humanity who is able to watch this nation burn, listen to hate filled rhetoric of those who set the flames and not be furious are in my humble opinion less than human.

I don’t know where to start; I am stunned by the brain dead blathering of Republicans whether they are elected officials, those who desire high office or the talking heads who seem to be held in such esteem. The utter idiocy of their positions, the ignorance of what flies out of their mouths at times causes me to want to lock myself into a closet, never to emerge again. I am embarrassed at times to admit my own heritage as it links me to them at least on the surface through a shared gene pool. Fortunately, I do not dwell on this for too very long, realizing our shared genetic markers do not condemn me to ignorance, greed or a failed moral standard, as these are all choices they have made for themselves.

You will need to forgive me if I descend into less than ladylike language, I have lost my temper and my normal Southern charm and aplomb.

WAR ON WHITES…WTF

Yes, you read that correctly. This is the position an idiot Congressman, Mo Brooks (R), out of Alabama has taken, the Democratic Party has declared a ‘War on Whites’. Now this truly isn’t new, southern White Folks have genuinely believed they have been disenfranchised and abused since the end of the Civil War when they lost their source of free labor with the emancipation of the slaves. With Civil Rights came new levels of anger and fear, White Folks in America began to band together under a variety of banners, primarily these:

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Until we got to the election of the very first Black American President, Barack Hussein Obama in 2007, suddenly shit hit the fan. Now mind you, our President is in fact a true representative of the American experience being of both African and European lineage. Few recognize this President as having a ‘White’ side, when they look at him they see him as Black and he unsurprisingly self-identifies as a Black Man. What option, in this America would he have when his Melanin saturation is the only thing that identifies him for 99% of Americans.

POTUS & FLOTUS ObamaTake it all with grace

When things truly begin shifting in our cities and towns was September 11, 2001. If that date rings a bell it should, that was the day we all realized we were vulnerable and said to the government, ‘save us from those evil brown people who want to kill us, who want to change our way of life’. Yes, we said that, we also said without realizing it, tear the stitches off the decades long wound to the White Power Structure of Civil Rights and social courtesy be damned, if it ain’t White, Christian with able to pee standing up, it ain’t right.

All bets off, since 2001 the tone of the argument changed and in the mind of White America the enemy was clear. Politicians latched on and adjusted their rhetoric to suit the mood of the nation, along with the vitriol came the money and the weapons to control the masses. Senators and Congressmen from every state in the union put their hands into the till and came out with new toys for controlling their own constituents. Police forces were militarized, becoming capable of imposing martial law in the blink of an eye. We were at risk, but more importantly our inner cities, were at risk those who were considered ‘outsiders’ and not ‘like me’, were at risk and they didn’t know, yet. The one thing we have to know, there is a distinct difference in how the law is executed, note below and see if you can tell the difference from these pictures.

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WAR ON WHITES….WTF

Since September 11, 2001 a war was on but it wasn’t against White Folks, we have not lost our privilege we haven’t lost our ground. In fact, we have fought through our elected officials and our corrupt courts all the way up to the highest court in the land to take back what we perceive lost previously. If I say so myself we have done a damned fine job of putting our heel on all those who we think of as ‘less than’ and ‘not like’ and crushing the life out of them. This includes the following:

American born Black Men and Women, those who came here in servitude and somewhat freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, but have yet to achieve true enfranchisement within this nation. Men and women who have for centuries contributed their labor, served in the military, paid taxes, contributed to our arts and sciences yet whom we have failed miserably to welcome into society as equals.

American born Hispanic Men and Women, those who immigrated or were born here and have every right to claim citizenship, who live and work alongside their White neighbors every single day, who serve in the military, pay their taxes and contribute to our arts and sciences, yet who we continue to see as outsiders and ‘illegals’.

Immigrants from all nations, some who have come here through legal means and others who have not. Some who have come seeking political asylum and some who have come seeking a better life for their families, seeking the promise of opportunity, democracy and freedom. Many who come from the ‘darker’ nations, those nations that create the diversity of faith and color within this ‘United’ States of America.

The original owners of this once abundant land, the People, the Tribes, the Native and Indigenous of all the lands including Alaska and Hawaii, we can never forget those who once roamed freely and called this home. Remembering they have also been disenfranchised and left with dross after the European Anglo Saxon landed and following a policy of Manifest Destiny subsequently proceeded to enslave, commit genocide and steal out from under them this very land now referred to as the United States of America.

Let us not for a minute forget women, this war has been ongoing and insidious for a while now and it is ratcheting up every year. Women are the target of a strategy to remove them from the workforce, remove them as an economic force and remove once again their authority over their own body. This war cuts across all race lines and leaves only one line uncrossed, that of the very wealthy who will always have access to what is needed to remain free and unencumbered.

WAR ON WHITES…WTF

What is this fabled war I ask and how is it being waged? Have people of European descent somehow been prevented from access to any of the things they were formally use to accessing? Are their families broken apart by unfair sentencing laws and the men of their communities targeted for more frequent police stops, despite White folks are far more likely to have contraband (e.g. drugs, guns) in their cars. Are their communities and neighborhoods targets of stop and frisk tactics, swat team home invasions and military policing? Are their schools locked down and falling down? Is the poverty rate, the unemployment rate and the dropout rate higher by double digits, in their communities than anywhere else in the nation. Are their sons bleeding out in the streets of the cities, shot down or chocked out by cops while unarmed with their hands in the air, begging for their lives?

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No? I didn’t think so.

With coded language and sometimes not so coded language there is indeed a war being fought it is not though a war against those of my heritage, it is not against White Folks. Those of us who are wandering through life thinking we are not privileged or that we are somehow losing our privileges need to think again, we need to get a grip on ourselves. We need to remind ourselves when we speak to our children about the facts of life we aren’t telling them about how to conduct themselves during a police stop to save their lives, rather we are telling them where babies come from.

Heartbreaking, Ferguson

WAR on WHITES…WTF INDEED.

I am heartbroken by what is happening in this nation. Only we can stop it, only those of us with a conscious can stop what is happening in this nation. Only those of us who are sentient and willing to put ourselves on the line can stand up and say enough. Stand Up, Hands Up, Enough. All men and women are my brothers and sisters. All men and women deserve the same rights and privileges. The victim is the one lying dead on the ground, not the white cop who shot him eight times despite the barrage of media trying to turn him into a thug, as someone I love has named it using the Trayvon Defense.

Mike Brown lay on the street for more than 4 hours.

Time to stand up, no time left to sit back and rest on our laurels, no time for apathy, no time for apathy, no time to turn away from what is uncomfortable. Stand up and say enough, no more children bleeding in our streets.

Comments

I lived through the 1960s and it has gotten better. However, it still exists and perhaps has gone underground in a sense in some ways. And I don’t remember hearing so much hatred for a president as I have for President Obama. Well stated, Val!

Your heart is not the only one broken and we do need to stand up – particularly for those who can’t or those who have already lost their lives. Tragedy is across North America and we must continue to rise to make changes. Excellent post, Val.

I obviously am an outsider looking in from across the pond and I think one of the biggest problems you guys over there are the religious fundamentalists, no I don’t mean Muslims I mean Christians, it seems that they are the ones pushing to get power and willing to send you all to hell to do so. Your constitution states free from religious direct (I am paraphrasing) when it comes to the laws of the land yet the religious groups now want to control birth control, and give employers the right to discriminate against those who do not share their beliefs, they want to retain their religious standing and not pay taxes but have a say in where tax money is spent, they rile people up against gun control when the bible clearly tells them they should not defend themselves they should turn the other cheek and trust the lord to protect them. Half my FB friends from the US post statuses that make me think of stroppy teenagers who need a good slap up the side of the head and to be sent to their rooms to think about what they came out with. Sadly with more and more media and keyboard warriors too few people stop to think for themselves or question the motives of those inciting them from behind their corporate desks, possible the hundreds of extra years of history we in the UK have had to study show us that ultimately the only person we can be accountable for is ourselves and when the majority of people look to their own lives first and stand up can society ever improve

I wish it was only the religious fundamentalists we have to worry about, but they are not killing Black Men in the streets. They are not militarizing our police forces or destroying communities. They are only one problem.

It is a nation built on racism Paula. A nation built on genocide and slavery.

I am afraid Frank, it is going backward. I don’t know how any of us say it is improved. I wish I could believe it is improved, but the more I look the more I believe otherwise. The more I believe these ‘improvements’ are simply a high gloss finish on what is truthfully broken and getting worse. Individually, we might each say ‘but it isn’t me’. It isn’t enough, we have to do something to change the dynamics. We have to move the ball forward and fix this truly corrupt and broken system.

Four unarmed Black men dead in less than 30 days, killed by cops. Yet nothing done, nothing Frank. I don’t think we can say it is getting better as we watch what is happening in Ferguson which is nothing more than a microcosm of our nation.

Yes, even since then. Jim Crow was at least understood and defined. Now look what we have.

Poverty rates higher than ever, jobs moved overseas and the worst hit? Inner cities where the highest concentration of African American and Hispanic people are.

This loss of income also affects education, loss of homes, property values go down, schools lose funding, shut their doors, high drop out rates, poor performance in many cases due to over sized classrooms. States taking over the schools in these districts and then taking even more money from them, in fact Ferguson is a great example of this one.

The ‘War on Drugs’ targeted mostly inner cities Frank. Whether we like this or not that is what it did. The disparity in sentencing laws sent the low level dealer and user to prison with long sentences while the distributor stayed on the street. What did this really mean? Predominately African American and Hispanic men faced long sentences in state and federal prisons, breaking up families and leaving children without fathers. Add to this the 3 strikes your out rule, the Black family was destroyed.

We have the highest prison population in the world Frank and that population is primarily a minority male population, in for non-violent crimes with long sentences.

I could continue Frank. Now we have Voter Suppression, targeted at a primarily minority population. We have cops killing mostly men of color, at a rate of 300 per year, with impunity. We have Stand Your Ground laws that seem to apply to only White Men. We have Open Carry that seem to apply to only White Folks.

I know what he says. I also know what the mothers of the dead children say Frank. So it is about perspective isn’t it?

If John Lewis, who is in Ferguson marching and protesting with them, says it is ‘better’ than 50 years ago, great. Yet, now the police are killing and the police para-military and the police are telling the media to, ‘get the f*ck out’ or they will be gassed.

I say, it is worse. Others say it is worse. We say it is worse because of all the things I cited. It is a matter of perspective Frank.

61% of Black males have been arrested at least once in their lives. How are they to get jobs with a record, support families and rise out of poverty and get off welfare? A friend
relates that if he doesn’t indicate an arrest record he will eventually be fired as background check comes in and if he does report a record he won’t get hired in the first place. The drug war is designed to create jobs in the criminal justice “industry” based of the felonization of people . 70% of world’s opium from Afghanistan. If there is a war on drugs and US in Afghanistan why is heroin on the streets cheaper than it has ever been?

In Miami, Florida the dope holes are shut down but certain ones remain in operation. This is because they are the sources of several hundred arrestees every weekend keeping the roster of “clients” full. People are “harvested” for arrest. Criminal justice is 3rd largest employer in Miami so seems a matter of jobs at the expense of the underclass. If there is a war on drugs why don’t they shut down all the dope holes?

I think that things really started on that slippery slope back much further. It has always been with us in different forms. And it is in both north and south. Reactions to desegregation, Nixon’s southern strategy, with Reagan starting things off in Philadelphia, Mississippi, it just keeps getting worse.

And frankly, the swat teams should have been called on Bundy…. oh yeah, he’s white.

It is all a grand illusion. The unprovoked dabbling in the lives of others always produces discord. To have a rightful place at the table does not take away from anyone else. Frankly, to believe otherwise is contemptible, not pitiable. As a nation, we take self-pity and whip it whisk until it is a frothy head of panic. “Woe is me! Someone has something I do not!” Sadly, the ones with the whisks are those who have more than all others, yet no one ever bemoans how little they have by comparison; hence, it is all an illusion.

I think “The Little Engine That Could” needs to get back on the adult reading list.
xxx

Yes! I am with you, I share your heart break, and I share your anger. We can no longer remain silent. Thank you for an excellent post. I have re-blogged, so hopefully more people will have a chance to read it. Again, thank you.

OMG, Valentine. This post has left me breathless. I didn’t realize it until I finished reading it, that I was holding my breath. Words cannot express enough, the feelings I am left with after absorbing all your deep thoughts and feelings. You have said it all, plus, all the fantastic comments your post has initiated. I completely agree with everything. Our country, and our world, are in very bad shape and I, also, don’t know how, or if, it can be fixed. It’s so easy for the common person to go about our daily business and forget about what is happening every second, that is destroying our way of life as we know it. The elected officials are also at a loss – who can blame them? They are not geniuses – far from it. The problems are so complex, and the selfish, conniving, devious, greedy people who have our lives in their hands, surely are not going to be concerned about us, the “common” folk. What have we gotten ourselves into? I wonder, even if we all go to the polls and vote, will we vote in the “right” ones or the “best” ones? Our lives are totally up in the air. 😦

We are responsible, we vote. We vote those senseless and idiotic incomprehensible fools in office, we with our vote can just as easily take them out. We have the power to change this nation. We with our hands, our feet, our voices have the power to stand together, reach across the chasm and make the change we want to see. We must begin to heal this nation because we want it to change.

Reblogged this on Blissfully Single and commented:
There is no “war on whites” in this country. What we need to have, what we sincerely need, is a war on racism. We need to war on profiling. And we need to stop killing unarmed black men and women. One black man dies every 28 hours at the hands of police or pseudo-cops. We need to change the narrative. The narrative needs to be about equality. The narrative needs to focus on the senseless killing of people, simply because they are black.

There is no war on whites, but unfortunately this society encourages a mode of thinking which turns everything into a war/competition. So if someone else gets more rights and benefits, that must automatically mean they’ll be taken away from me, or it’s an assault on me. That’s not how it would actually work, but sadly that is how it is portrayed.

We seem to have this need to ‘make war’. War on Poverty, War on Drugs. These wars though created terrible outcomes. Truthfully they started a ball rolling downhill that we are seeing the results of all across the nation.

You are so right there is no “War on Whites”. What there is though is a slow shift of the power base. Thus we have some very real out comes, military style police forces and voter suppression being two that come to mind.

We have a problem in this nation that will not go away unless we stop it.

Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Please stop here …. click on this ink. This is very important if you care about ALL people in this nation. We need to stand up for what is right!! Get real!!

The last couple of years have had me saddened beyond belief. This is not the world I thought I was bringing my son into, and now his children. I fear for their safety and lives every day. This is not how it is supposed to be.

Me also Rachael. This isn’t the world I want to leave my sons or my grandbabies. This isn’t the world I want to live in. But you know, if it isn’t the world we want to live in or leave to the next generation, it is up to us to change it.

Thanks Kim. I have been very sad lately. My heart in a terrible place. It seems we are falling backwards and returning to a place that makes no sense, love is failing us and compassion has already found a closet to hide in. I do not understand this world, truly I do not.

Applause. Kudos. Cheers. Valentine, you have covered and uncovered it all. At this point, in my extremely advanced age, I have no patience with politicians, especially the Republican ones who chant hate, unshaved men with dirty hair, people who are all about themselves and brag about how great they are, and the classification of women as second-class citizens in government, religion, and businesses. Older ladies, while venerated in some tribes,, have no place in American society unless they’re famous. As a nation, we have deteriorated, and it didn’t start with Obama, who wasn’t given a chance when he, a black man, took office. Bush and Cheney are responsible for a lot of economic and prestige loss in the world. Clinton left us in great economic shape. Bush and Cheney left us in an economic disaster, except for themselves, of course, who can still count their personal millions while they paint or shoot their friends by accident. Ain’t life grand?

Thank you, though I have barely scratched the surface of it all. This one was hard to write and it sat on my heart for days. I find myself enraged at our national conversation, our refusal to acknowledge the chasm we have blasted and refuse to bridge. This ignorant mantra of living in a ‘post racial’ society is either just that, ignorance or it is a cold blooded decision to feed those willing to swallow a lie because it tastes better than the truth.

Clinton may have left us with a surplus, he also though signed NAFTA which sent millions of jobs overseas and opened the floodgates for unneeded ‘inexpensive’ white collar labor to come into the country on visa’s thus creating what is now the permanent gray market for those of us in technical fields and over 40. He isn’t my hero by any stretch and his wife scares me even more.

Bush and Cheney, yes even worse. They though only carried out what started way back with Reagan and is being carried out by the GOP of today in every city and state nationwide.